MMA history was made tonight, the mythical Brazilian Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was knocked out cold in the second round by Francisco "Frank" Mir.
Mir dominated the first round with great stand up boxing skills. These two submission experts didn't have a technical ground war, as was expected. Big Nog hit the canvas twice in round one from a lethal 45-degree angled right uppercut, a punch that was first made famous by world renowned boxer Oscar De La Hoya.
In round two, big Nog was hit by two vicious left hooks from Mir, which sent him reeling to the canvas; unlike Tim Sylvia, Mir has finishing power and jumped on Nogueira to apply the coup de gras.
Mir has gone through hell on the rocky road to his comeback, and this is the sweet icing on the cake. Big Nogueira is one of the best heavyweights to come out of the now-defunct Pride Fighting Championships organization, but was no match for Mir, who was once the UFC champ and has never lost his title in the ring.
After losing to Brandon Vera and Marcio Cruz it looked as if Mir's comeback was all but over, but he trudged forward and persevered after most sportswriters—including myself—had written him off.
At UFC 81 last February, however, I watched closely as Mir took unbelievable first-round punishment from a behemoth wrestler who had crossed over to the Mixed Martial Arts world—Brock Lesnar was pummeling Mir in the back of the head and was warned by referee Steve Mazzagatti for fouling. The pair were stood up and, once again, the fight went to the ground; this time, however, Mir came through with an amazing knee bar.
I screamed at anyone who would listen that the Frank Mir of old had finally returned.
When Brock Lesnar won the linear heavyweight championship from Randy Couture last month at UFC 91, Mir became the only man who possessed a win over the new champ; in order to get a rematch with Lesnar and a shot at winning his linear belt back, he needed the big win tonight over Nogueira.
Even though the wheels had fallen off the PFC promotion and most of its fighters were beaten in the octagon long ago, it didn't stop the Big Nog lovers and PFC fan boys from jumping back on their bandwagon and writing Mir off.
Mir, however, is used to being written off; he has been the underdog in life, the guy who was finished, the fighter who had the unlucky experience of losing it all.
Mir had realized that tonight was his chance of a lifetime, he had to reach down into the pit of his soul, burn a torch to light the way, and bring back the fighter that still lived on inside him.
This fight with Mir was the first time Big Nog has ever been stopped; in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Mir was almost in tears, and he asked the audience to take a good look at his life and then look at their own lives...and to remember that there is no limit to the human will, we can all persevere and conquer anything we put our minds to.
I could feel his muscle tissues collapse under my force. It's ludicrous these mortals even attempt to enter my realm.
—Mike Tyson
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